Home Opener 2025, aka F*C* Dallas

Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge

While its technically not "Opening Day" because we've already had the CCC game that was a small crowd in a partially open stadium on a painfully cold night.  Tomorrow is the real start to the home season for the first home league match in front of a full crowd.  And bonus, it will still be in the 40s by the end of the game.  Our old friends Dallas are in town, not everyone sees this as a rivalry but those of us who watched all the Colorado-Dallas playoffs in the first 15 seasons do.  Kickoff tomorrow is at the traditional 7:30 time and the undefeated C38 tailgate kicks off at 4.

Availability Report:

OUT: D Jackson Travis, D Sam Vines, M Ted Ku-DiPietro

QUESTIONABLE: D Andreas Maxso, M Connor Ronan, F Darren Yapi

Travis had surgery on his hand this week and will be out 4-6 weeks.  Good to see everyone else largely recovering, though Vines' injury is a bit of a question mark.  Given how much preseason time Yapi missed I'm assuming he'll need some time before he's ready to play, but Maxso and Ronan only missed the last 10 days so once they're healthy enough to play they should be at the expected fitness.

We just went two full games with Larraz and Atencio as the double pivot and Bassett pushed up, and we had 0 shots on goal on those games.  Time to Cole back to where things were working in the first game against LAFC (and last season), especially since we're home.  I think Armas asks the defense for one more big push before getting a full week off and being able to bring Maxso (and maybe Vines?) back into the roation.  As far as the other winger I picked Fernandez because Armas seems to see something in him, but Harris (either one) might be a better option.

Prediction: 2-0 win, goals by Mihailovic and Bassett.  Just going with a gut feel here, its hard to tell what's going to happen this early in the season with the number of games we've already played.

Well, That Was Predictable

 

From my preview:

The Rapids can't sit back and try for the scoreless draw though, that will almost certainly fail.  Scoring a goal will force LAFC to score 3 to win outright and that should be the focus.  We might be able to prevent a 3-1 loss, but we can't prevent a 1-0 loss.

With 0 shots on goal for the second game in a row the Rapids were unable to prevent a 1-0 loss and elimination from CONCACAF play at the first step for a fifth time.  The team started out strong and spent the first half largely frustrating the LAFC attack while getting a couple of looks in themselves.  At halftime I wrote that it was a good 45 and there would be no shame in going out to a team like LAFC playing this way.

Then the second half happened.  In the 48th minute Rosenberry got beat on the wing and a cross got it.  Cannon's man got goal-side of him and was able to redirect it on net.  Steffen got a leg on the ball but not enough to keep it out and suddenly the Rapids had to chance the game.  But they didn't.  With 40+ minutes left and needing a goal to advance the Rapids got 0 shots on target and rarely looked dangerous.  Pitiful.

The other notable incident was in the 82nd minute when Awaziem was speaking to the ref about an off-ball incident.  The game was delayed for 5+ minutes with no explanation.  After that game it was revealed that Awaziem heard LAFC's Palencia use a unacceptable slur towards him and wanted the process for unacceptable language followed.  Which, by all accounts, it was.  If no ref heard it and it wasn't picked up by the mics (reviewing them was likely the cause of the delay) then there's noting the ref can do.  The game played on with a remarkably short amount of stoppage time given the delay, but it wouldn't have mattered.  We could have had 20 minutes and we weren't going to score.

Obviously there's no room for discriminatory language in the game (or anywhere) so full support to Awaziem for having to deal with whatever was said.  Unfortunately all we have are the two players words on what happened.  CONCACAF is initiating an investigation but unless other players around heard what was said this will likely result in no further action being taken.  And that's absolutely fair.  While I'm sure Awaziem believes what he is saying its possible that he misheard or misunderstood what Palencia said.  Without any sort of proof or other player's corroboration its unfair to Palencia to just assume he said something derogatory.

Moving back to the result you have to say with 45 minutes left this result was a disappointment.  I don't think 10 days ago the Rapids were favored to advance but at halftime last night it was pretty clear LAFC didn't have 3 goals in them so 1 goal by the Rapids would have ensured 30 minutes of extra time at worst.  Instead we got a completely punch less offense that couldn't put a shot on goal the whole game.  As expected that result led to a 1-0 loss.

There was some history made last night.  It was the first time in Rapids history that they have gone two full games ion a row without a shot on target.  Both goals against LAFC in the first leg were Mihailovic bangers from a set piece so through 3 games the team has no goals from the run of play and zero assists.  Not a good start to the season.

They also continued their history of being the only MLS team with multiple CCL/CCC appearances to have never advanced past their opening round.  20 other MLS teams have appeared multiple times and advanced a least once.  Not only that we've been eliminated pretty much every way possible.  On points (Toronto 2018, Santos Laguna & Isidrio Metapan, 2011), total goals (Leono, 1998), PKs (Comunicaciones, 2022) and now away goals against LAFC.  We've also been eliminated 5 times by teams from 5 different countries, Mexico (Leon, 1998), El Salvador (Isidrop Metapan, 2011), Canada (Toronto, ,2018), Guatemala (Comunicaciones, 2022), and America (LAFC, 2025).  So at least we're keeping our failures interesting.

Man of the Match: Chidozie Awaziem.  He was my choice before the language incident happened but playing through that is an added bonus.  He was more than solid all night, making some pretty defensive plays when needed.  He's looking like our best offseason acquisition so far.

Rapids Try For First Ever CCL/CCC Advancement

This is Colorado's 5th time in CONCACAF Champions League/Cup play and in the prior 4 tournaments they were eliminated in their opening round.  They have a chance to break that streak tomorrow night in LA but it will be a tough hill to climb.  Colorado has never gotten a a point at LAFC and they've struggled to even score.

The good news is that a 0-0 draw is all they need.  In fact any win or draw gets them through, but a 1-0 loss does them in.  A 2-1 loss forces an extra 30 minutes and then PKs if still tied.  If the Rapids can score more than 1 goal though then LAFC would have to win by 2.

In their two games so far LAFC has largely sat back and waited for their opportunities to attack, which really haven't come.  In the second half this weekend they made halftime changes that led to them controlling the second half.  Lets hope they revert back tomorrow night.  The Rapids can't sit back and try for the scoreless draw though, that will almost certainly fail.  Scoring a goal will force LAFC to score 3 to win outright and that should be the focus.  We might be able to prevent a 3-1 loss, but we can't prevent a 1-0 loss.

Its still a long shot though, especially with our injuries.  I doubt anyone who wasn't available will be available tomorrow night, not enough time to suddenly get healthy.  So we're going to be asking the back line to play their 3rd game in 8 days, along with a good chunk of our midfield and Navarro.  The natural inclination is going to be conserve energy and play off LAFC but we need to lean the other way and push hard for an early goal.

Prediction: 3-1 loss in extra time.  Goal by Navarro.  I think we force the bonus 30 minutes but then our defensive legs run out and LAFC gets the winner to move on and play Columbus.

Defense Bails Out Offense In St. Louis

It was a rough game for the attack last night but the back line stepped up with a strong game from Zach Steffen backing them up.  A couple o f surprises in the starting XI with Cannon being able to start and Bassett being moved out to wing to allow Larraz and Atencio to man the double-pivot.

Honestly there's not a whole lot to review in this game.  Colorado didn't have a single shot on target while St. Louis had five.  Every time we got the ball into an attacking position our crosses failed to find the target.  The biggest chance either team had was in the 15th minute when St. Louis had a point-blank shot but Steffen was able to fend it off with a reaction save.  St. Louis did put one in the back of the net in the 20th minute but it was correctly ruled off due to offside.  After that the game settled into a few half-chances for St. Louis and one good look from a Mihailovic cross late that nobody could get a touch on.

In the end a draw is a good result from this match.  A road game sandwiched between two CCC matches was always going to be tricky and with our injury situation doubly so.  There are a couple of concerns though.  First the inability to get any sort of attack is worrisome.  I think neutering Bassett by putting him out wide was a poor choice by Armas.  This team needs to be built around Mihailovic at the 10 and Bassett at the 8, forcing any other lineup just to get other players into the midfield at their preferred positions doesn't make sense.  The other concern is that LAFC scored their one goal off a set piece and the one time St. Louis beat us was off a set piece that an offside saved us on.  On the flip side our two goals have come off of set pieces, so it balances out.

Man of the Match: Zach Steffen.  Easy choice since the shot he saved in the 15th minute had the equivalent xG of a penalty kick and then he made 1-2 more saves during the game to preserve the shutout.

Rapids Start MLS Play Under The Arch

Going to try to feature NPS sites as much as possible this season

CCC was fun but we all know that's a temporary thing.  Time to start the real season with the first league game tomorrow night in St. Louis.  Both teams made their major moves last summer, though St. Louis has had a bit more churn than the Rapids this offseason.  Regardless it should be two teams who are on the more settled end of the spectrum for a first game.  Of course Colorado is coming off the midweek game against LAFC while St. Louis is getting their first competitive minutes.  What's worth more, rest or already have shaken some rust off?  Kickoff tomorrow is at 6:30pm on MLS Season Pass.

Availability Report:

OUT: D Andreas Maxso, D Jackson Travis, D Sam Vines, M Ted Ku-DiPietro, M Connor Ronan, F Darren Yapi

QUESTIONABLE: D Reggie Cannon

That's...not a good way to start the season.  We knew Yapi and KDP were dealing with long-term injuries this preseason, and Vines picked up his knock in Mexico and was always going to be iffy to be ready to start the season.  Ronan apparently got injured on Monday, and Maxso was also injured for the CCC match.  We saw Cannon go down at the end of that game but he's apparently more likely to play than not, based on what I've heard.  Travis' injury is a mystery after coming in when Cannon was injured Tuesday night.

Given all this and the quick turn-around with the CCC I'm not going to predict a lineup.  If Cannon can go we'll see the same back 4 we saw on Tuesday.  If he can't we may roll out the 3-5-2 with somebody like Cabral playing left wing back.  It will also depend on how much faith Armas has in getting a result on LA on Tuesday and how much he wants to save for that.

Prediction: 1-1 draw, goal by Navarro.  At full strength I think we win this game but with the injuries and schedule congestion I think we end up being satisfied with the draw.